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Eddy KovacEddy Kovac 

Auto Populate from one object to another?

I know that there is a thread similar to this but the solution to get what I am trying to accomplish does not seem to be the same.

I am a newbie to sales force and in the initial stages of trying to build it out to replace another tool we use. Currently what I am trying to accomplish of for our contact information, which has both our clients and, in many cases, the opposing party information in it. 

In the contact Object we have an option field with with  a few different options that tell us what sort of contact this is (potential client, client, opposing party and so on). All new contacts are created as “Potential Client” once that person hires us 2 things happen (1) we change the contact type in the drop down from Potential Client to Client & (2) we send out an email template from a button titled new hire. 

The email is from a conga composer template which is not relevant to this question.

What we want to happen is for all of the contact information the is in the contact tab/object to auto populate into a different tab/object (Cases) and for it to create a “New Case with a firm specific unique identifier. 

I have the case tab built out with some of the fields already in place; including the unique identifier field. What I am wondering is what I would need to do to either transfer all of the contact information into the case object and could this be created to happen when the “Client Type” is changed, or would it need to be an additional section of syntax in the “New Hire” Button that triggers the email mentioned above?

I hope this makes sense. 

Thank you again.

Eddy
Zhen Yueh LeanZhen Yueh Lean
Hi Eddy,

For you situation, you can achieve what you want by using Process Builder or Apex Trigger (requires programming knowlege). Since you are new to salesforce, I would recommend you to opt for process builder:

https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=process_overview.htm&type=5

It also allows you to chose how and when you want the automation to happen. Enjoy!
Raj R.Raj R.

Hi Eddy,

There is a simple approach to this involving Cross Object Formulas.

The case object has a reference to a Contact. When the case is created, you assign it a Contact (populating the ContactId field). You can create formula(text) fields that will copy the Contact fields as you need to. As you update the Contact fields, since there is a formula(text) field it will also show the update on the Case record. This also removes the need to have extra Process Builder or Apex logic to update the Case's Contact fields as the Contact's field are updated. 

Raj R.Raj R.
I forgot to mention, there are different formula type fields (https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=choosing_a_formula_data_type.htm&type=5), so you can do more than just formula (text)